All Roll Calls
Yes: 122 • No: 22
UtahH.B. 382026 General SessionHouseWALLET
Local Government Amendments
Sponsored By: James A. Dunnigan (Republican)
Signed by Governor
CountiesLocal Government BoundariesLimited Purpose Local Government EntitiesPolitical Subdivisions (Local Issues)Special Service DistrictsAnnexationCounty and Municipal FinanceCounty OfficersFiscal ProceduresForm of Local GovernmentLocal Government ClassificationLocal Government EmployeesLocal Taxation and Fees
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
42 provisions identified: 18 benefits, 13 costs, 11 mixed.
Descendants can use affidavits for military records
People requesting an ancestor’s military record can submit an affidavit explaining their direct family line. A county recorder can accept it as proof for a free certified copy. Acceptance is allowed, not required.
Jurors and witnesses use finance officers
Holders of covered juror or witness certificates can present them to the county finance officer for payment. The certificate must be presented within one year after issuance. After that deadline, it is invalid and unpaid.
Voters get emails about disqualified candidates
County election officials must email eligible voters when a candidate is disqualified 65 or fewer days before an election. This applies to voters whose email addresses are on file. The email must explain that the candidate is disqualified and votes for that candidate will not count.
Counties provide needed replacement survey markers
When permitted construction disturbs a government survey monument or public land survey corner, the county must provide the needed monument. The permit holder receives it for the work. The replacement no longer has to be a brass monument, ring, and lid.
District home liens clear before inspection
For homes assessed by an infrastructure financing district under the Assessment Area Act, the district must ensure the home's assessment is fully paid. Any assessment lien must also be satisfied and released. Both steps must happen before the final inspection required for a certificate of occupancy. The law does not say who ultimately bears the assessment cost.
Property owners can get recording alerts
Beginning January 1, 2025, county recorders must offer electronic alerts for deeds or mortgages recorded on an owner's property. Property owners must sign up. Notice is due within 30 days after recording. The recorder may use another delivery method at the owner's request.
Recorder services accept electronic payment authorization
County recorders can provide recording, copies, and other services after payment or authorization for electronic payment. The fee remains due; electronic authorization is another way to arrange payment before service.
Career council members can hold office
County career service council members can now hold another government office. The separate ban on being employed by the county remains.
Counties gain clerk-auditor staffing flexibility
Clerks in counties with taxable value below $100 million no longer must also serve as auditor without extra pay. The county covered by Section 17-70-103 can combine its clerk and auditor offices by ordinance at any time. That county can also pay a clerk serving as auditor despite the usual combined-office salary limits. The law sets no replacement staffing arrangement or required pay amount.
County finance officers handle payment claims
County finance officers review goods and service claims, recommend approval or rejection, and keep claim and payment-order records. Payment requires county executive approval, a certified claim list, and completion of the required review. A separate statutory exception applies to claims covered by Section 17-60-405. Accounts for county charges go to the auditor or finance officer and the county executive for review.
County government plans get election deadlines
A proposed optional county government plan goes to voters after the county attorney finds no statutory or constitutional violation. The county must use the next regular general election no later than 180 days after the attorney’s report reaches the clerk.
Districts cannot take property or shift debts
Infrastructure financing districts cannot use eminent domain to take property. This does not change other entities' eminent-domain powers. A district alone bears its debts, obligations, and other financial burdens. Those burdens do not belong to Utah or its other local governments.
Finance officers oversee county debt controls
County finance officers certify that county bonds, payment orders, and other debt meet legal limits and issuance rules. County findings about debt interest, salaries, or current expenses protect finance officers on those facts when certifying related payment orders. Counties must maintain financial controls, with help from the finance officer and treasurer, to record valid transactions accurately and promptly. The auditor or finance officer can prepare a debt statement before the annual tax-levy meeting under county legislative direction. It lists funded and floating debt, amounts by class, and interest rates.
New counties use active-voter petition counts
New-county petitions count an area’s active voters when measuring voter support. Civil and criminal cases pending in territory that becomes a new county can continue there through judgment and enforcement. Continuing those cases in the new county is allowed, not required.
Residents get clearer county financial access
Finance officers must post audit-completion notice on the county website within 10 days after receiving the independent auditor’s report. This replaces twice-published newspaper notices and also follows state publication rules. The public can inspect audits and adopted budgets at the auditor’s office, or the finance officer’s office at the county seat. Budgets are available during business hours. Finance officers also maintain county books, keep accounts current with the treasurer, and preserve records for inspection during office hours. Record disposal follows state records law, and the clerk’s record duties exclude finance officer accounts.
County surveys require licensed professionals
Licensed land surveyors must perform county surveyor duties, even when that office is combined with another elected office. Counties can hire or contract with one when no elected surveyor exists or the combined-office holder lacks a license. Contracted surveyors use their own seal unless the contract authorizes the county seal; either satisfies legal seal requirements. County recorders keep survey records accessible and serve as the surveyor’s office only for those records functions. Boundary-establishing or reestablishing survey maps must be filed within 90 days, excluding surveys only gathering data for a map or plat.
Property records get updated search indexes
Recorders must mark recorded documents with an entry number, recording date and time, and fee. Indexes must include entry numbers, document types, applicable parties and property descriptions, and water-right numbers when applicable. Recorders can use parcel numbers, addresses, or references to recorded documents to build property-description indexes. They need not search beyond the submitted document. Description indexing is not required when a legally required description is missing or defects prevent identification of the property.
Public agencies receive completed district infrastructure
Infrastructure financed by an infrastructure financing district must meet the requirements of the public entity that will own and operate it. Once complete, it must transfer at no cost to that county, municipality, special district, or special service district.
Construction permits lose $250 refund
Counties no longer must refund $250 after permitted construction ends and a government survey monument or corner remains undisturbed. Permit holders who qualified for that refund lose the required $250 payment.
District tax challenges face short deadline
Anyone challenging an infrastructure financing district's creation, property tax, or fee must sue and serve summons within 30 days. The clock starts when the challenged action takes effect. Someone who misses the deadline cannot later challenge that action or seek to stop related tax or fee collection.
Extra recording fee in some counties
Second- through sixth-class counties must charge an extra $5 for each covered recorder service when their restricted recording-fee account has no balance. The extra fee does not apply while that account has a balance. It also excludes the $2 charge for each additional description or mining claim.
County examination appeals lose binding rulings
Applicants rejected from a county examination can appeal in writing. A career service council or administrative law judge reviews the appeal and sends written recommendations to county lawmakers. The council or judge no longer issues a final, binding decision.
County boundary petitions need voter majorities
Joining adjoining counties requires petition signatures from a majority of active voters in each county. The petition must reach both county legislative bodies before the first Monday in June of any year. Transferring territory to an adjoining county requires signatures from a majority of active voters in the proposed transfer area. That petition must be presented before the first Monday in June of a general-election year.
County leaders face narrower authority rules
An appointed county administrative officer no longer qualifies as a county executive under these rules. Elected county executives and appointed county managers still qualify. County legislative bodies can investigate county matters and business. They can investigate a county officer’s actions only when those actions affect county business or operations.
County officers must meet qualification rules
In first- and second-class counties, a person holding a combined county office must qualify for every office included. This includes any required state license or certification. County assessor candidates must meet the filing qualifications referenced in the law.
Infrastructure districts face formation and expansion limits
Infrastructure financing districts must follow the referenced special-district rules for creation, annexation, and withdrawal, with statutory exclusions. Creation documents must describe planned infrastructure and address development agreements and expansion areas when applicable. Residential districts must identify milestones or events for an appointed board seat to become elected. Expansion areas must touch the original boundary and appear in the governing document submitted with the creation petition. Annexation is limited to those areas and requires signatures from 100% of surface-property owners in the expansion area.
Career councils lose removal and fee protections
A county executive can remove a career service council member after offering an appeal to the county legislative body. Removal no longer requires cause, charges, or an opportunity for a public hearing. Councils also lose express authority to pay witnesses at justice court rates. Witnesses cannot rely on that provision as authority for payment.
County nuclear-waste indemnity provision is repealed
The law repeals a provision for state indemnification of a county that refuses to host nuclear waste. The supplied text does not describe the covered costs or conditions. It provides no amount for estimating the financial effect.
County resource-development spending authority is repealed
The law repeals a statutory authorization to spend county money on developing county resources. The supplied text does not identify the resources, projects, or spending limits involved. No spending reduction or household financial effect is specified.
Infrastructure districts face tighter borrowing limits
Infrastructure financing districts may issue bonds only under the Assessment Area Act and Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Act. Assessment Area Act provisions allowing assessment proceeds for infrastructure operation, maintenance, or economic promotion do not apply to these districts.
New local governments pay survey fees
After a new local government receives its incorporation certificate, the county surveyor may charge it for formation-related survey work. The new government must pay those fees. Charges may include qualifying work completed before the certificate was issued. The law sets no fee amount.
Counties can sell record subscriptions
County recorders may offer records or information from records through a subscription service. County lawmakers may set a reasonable subscription fee by ordinance or resolution. Subscribing is optional.
Recorded documents give notice, limit lawsuits
Recorded documents give everyone legal notice of their contents from recording, rather than limiting that rule to certified copies. Documents indexed in all or part of the required indexes also give legal notice. Indexing does not fix a failure of notice caused by an error, omission, or defect. People cannot sue a county recorder for harm from information in a document recorded in a required index, even when defective.
County workers face revised appeal rules
Counties with career service systems must provide a council or personnel-trained judge to hear suspension, transfer, demotion, and dismissal appeals. General unresolved grievances are no longer listed for this review. An affected person must appeal a council or judge's decision to the county governing body before going to court. County inaction for 60 days means denial; a court appeal must be filed within 30 days after the county's final decision. Court review uses the existing record, if any, and asks whether the decision was arbitrary or capricious.
Counties gain spending approval flexibility
An ordinance can authorize finance officers, executives, managers, or appointed county hospital or mental health district administrators to approve routine spending. It can also authorize payroll checks that follow an established salary schedule. Routine spending must appear in the budget and have current-year funding approval. Counties must consult the finance officer and set a purchase limit above which county executive approval is required. The ordinance no longer must require the authorized officer to be bonded.
County assessors face licensing and exceptions
Elected county assessors must meet state qualifications and generally hold a state appraiser license or certification. Fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-class counties have a limited exception for candidates without that credential. It applies only when no credentialed appraiser files during the first three filing days and the candidate meets Section 17-66-201(1)(a) through (c). A person elected through this exception must earn the credential within 36 months after the term begins.
County member expulsion protection is repealed
The law repeals a section prohibiting member expulsion, with an exception for disorderly conduct. The supplied text does not identify the covered county bodies or members. It also does not explain which procedures apply after repeal.
County seat petitions need active-voter majorities
A petition to move a county seat needs signatures from a majority of the county’s active voters. This replaces a count based on votes cast in the previous general election. A qualifying petition received at least 180 days before the next general election goes on that ballot. Later petitions go to the general election after that.
Districts gain contracts but limit board pay
Infrastructure financing districts may contract with another government entity for administrative services. Districts cannot pay board members for board service unless those members live within the district.
Origin counties pay transferred civil-case costs
When a civil case moves counties, the original county must reimburse the receiving county for the proceeding's costs and expenses. This does not apply when the case moved because it should have been filed in the receiving county. The receiving county's attorney certifies the amount to the original county's attorney.
Disability residence licensing section is repealed
The law repeals a section titled 'Licensing of residences for persons with a disability.' The supplied text does not describe the removed licensing rules or any replacement rules. It does not establish how the repeal changes access, costs, or protections for residents.
Counties gain collection options with expense limits
Counties and special districts may arrange for county treasurers to bill and collect district assessments, with the treasurer's approval. When a taxpayer moves counties after a personal-property assessment, the county finance officer may deduct collection expenses from taxes collected. That deduction cannot exceed one-third of the tax collected. These rules do not set assessment amounts or state a change to the taxpayer's tax liability.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
James A. Dunnigan
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Michael K. McKell
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 2/20/2026
Senate/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 19 • No: 4
Senate vote • 2/19/2026
Senate/ uncircled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/19/2026
Senate/ passed 2nd reading
Yes: 24 • No: 4
Senate vote • 2/19/2026
Senate/ circled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/13/2026
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 6 • No: 0
House vote • 2/9/2026
House/ substituted
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 2/9/2026
House/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 56 • No: 13
House vote • 1/29/2026
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 8 • No: 1
House vote • 1/29/2026
House Comm - Substitute Recommendation
Yes: 9 • No: 0
House vote • 1/20/2026
House/ circled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Governor Signed
3/18/2026House/ to Governor
3/16/2026HouseHouse/ received enrolled bill from Printing
3/16/2026HouseHouse/ enrolled bill to Printing
3/11/2026HouseEnrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate
3/11/2026Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared
2/23/2026Bill Received from House for Enrolling
2/23/2026House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
2/20/2026HouseHouse/ received from Senate
2/20/2026HouseSenate/ to House
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ signed by President/ returned to House
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ passed 3rd reading
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ 3rd reading
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ passed 2nd reading
2/19/2026SenateSenate/ uncircled
2/19/2026SenateSenate/ circled
2/19/2026SenateSenate/ 2nd reading
2/19/2026SenateSenate/ placed on 2nd Reading Calendar
2/17/2026SenateSenate/ committee report favorable
2/17/2026SenateSenate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
2/13/2026Senate/ to standing committee
2/12/2026SenateSenate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
2/10/2026SenateSenate/ received from House
2/9/2026SenateHouse/ to Senate
2/9/2026HouseHouse/ passed 3rd reading
2/9/2026House
Bill Text
Enrolled
3/11/2026
Substitute #3
2/4/2026
Substitute #2
1/29/2026
Substitute #1
1/28/2026
Introduced
12/16/2025